a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to decorative elements, and more particularly, to decorative tufts or pompons that are typically attached to items of clothing as ornamentation or used as craft items.
b) Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that pompons consisting of cotton or other fibrous strands are widely used as ornaments on women's and children's clothing and other articles. These pompons consist of a multiplicity of strands, in the form of a bundle that is centrally held together tightly by a retaining ring. The retaining ring may be made from an elastomeric material, such as a rubber O-ring, or simple thread or cord that is looped around the fiber bundle, tightly drawn, and tied off. Regardless, the retaining ring exerts inwardly directed forces that force the bound fibers to flare radially outward evenly around the retaining ring, thus causing the fibers to form a generally spherical ball, or pompon.
Typically, pompons are secured to an article using either an adhesive or an anchor thread. If an adhesive is used, its application to the pompon will cause many of the soft cotton fibers to be encapsulated by the adhesive which will tend to flatten the secured half of the pompon. Use of an adhesive to secure a pompon to an article will prevent the pompon from freely dangling from the article, thus detracting from the usefulness of the pompon, since it is generally desirable to have the pompon dangle from the article.
The alternative use of an anchor thread to secure the pompon to an article may allow the pompon to dangle from the article once secured, however the anchor thread must pass through the retaining ring of the pompon to ensure a secure connection. Passing the anchor thread through the retaining ring of each pompon is generally a very difficult task.
An anchor thread may be formed integrally with each pompon, in which case, a few of the fibers are cut to a longer length than the bulk fibers. In doing so, an anchor thread will be created with the pompon which is secured by the retaining ring and may be used to secure the pompon to an article.
Creating an integral anchor thread with each pompon makes the otherwise relatively simple pompon manufacturing process more complex.
As described above, pompons are typically used to decorate an article of clothing. Each pompon is generally secured using its own anchor thread, as described above, or is individually glued to the clothing. An anchor thread may be used to string together two or more pompons along a single thread; however, in doing so, adjacent pompons have a tendency to interfere and flatten the fibers of neighboring pompons.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a decorative pompon that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to provide a decorative pompon that is easy and inexpensive to manufacture and attach to an article.
It is another object of the invention to provide a decorative pompon that may be easily threaded to an anchor thread without deforming or otherwise interfering with the fibers of the pompon.